Current vulnerability in the Monte Alén–Monts de Cristal landscape, Equatorial Guinea

The assessment identifies that the village of Atom is highly vulnerable due to a combination of unpredictable rainfall, forest degradation, and a lack of alternative livelihoods. While traditional shifting cultivation provides some flexibility, the loss of labor due to urban migration and restrictions on hunting in protected areas have weakened local resilience. The document recommends implementing climate-smart agriculture and improving market linkages to enhance food security and adaptive capacity.

• Local residents in the Atom village have observed significant ecological and socio-economic shifts since the 1970s, including a decline in forest cover and a decreasing population due to migratory outflows.
• Climate-related disturbances, specifically unpredictable rainfall patterns, increased temperatures, and torrential rains, have disrupted the traditional agricultural calendar and reduced food production.
• Vulnerability is differentiated by social group; female-headed households and those lacking young people due to urban migration are most at risk because they cannot perform essential farming tasks on time.
• The local economy is heavily reliant on subsistence farming and shifting cultivation, but this resilience is undermined by forest degradation and legal bans on hunting primates and animals in protected areas.
• The region's land use is dominated by industrial logging concessions, covering 65% of available land, although interest has shifted toward the oil economy since 1996.
• Adaptive capacity is limited by weak collective action and a lack of familiarity with community forest management, despite the existence of 'bosques comunales' legal titles.
• To improve future resilience, the document suggests adopting climate-smart agriculture—such as agroforestry and conservation agriculture—and enhancing rural-urban market linkages for food crops and non-timber forest products.

APA

C., P., M., C. B., & D., M. (2013). Current vulnerability in the Monte Alén–Monts de Cristal landscape, Equatorial Guinea. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-cobam-eg-briefing-note.pdf

Chicago

C., Pavageau,, Coll Besa, M., and Morchain, D. Current vulnerability in the Monte Alén–Monts de Cristal landscape, Equatorial Guinea. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2013. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-cobam-eg-briefing-note.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=C. |first1=Pavageau, |last2=M. |first2=Coll Besa, |last3=D. |first3=Morchain, |title=Current vulnerability in the Monte Alén–Monts de Cristal landscape, Equatorial Guinea |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=April 2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-cobam-eg-briefing-note.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{c2013current, author = {C., Pavageau, and M., Coll Besa, and D., Morchain,}, title = {{Current vulnerability in the Monte Alén–Monts de Cristal landscape, Equatorial Guinea}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, month = apr, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/sei-cobam-eg-briefing-note.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }